


Without a Fight

by firelord65



Series: Fecky's Whumptober Oneshots [31]
Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (Movies)
Genre: Canon Divergence - Post-At World's End (Pirates of the Caribbean), Gen, Left for Dead, Marooned, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:04:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27320116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firelord65/pseuds/firelord65
Summary: After getting thrown off her own ship, Elizabeth and Jack have to survive once more on a godforsaken spit of land in the middle of nowhere.
Relationships: Jack Sparrow & Elizabeth Swann
Series: Fecky's Whumptober Oneshots [31]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1950469
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Without a Fight

**Author's Note:**

> Whumptober Day 31: Today's Special: Torture - ~~Experiment | Whipped~~ | Left for Dead

When they had first landed on the spit of land, Elizabeth had already run through her string of curses _and_ firmly divested herself of all the blame for being stuck there. When the next day's sun rose again on their situation, Elizabeth had no words left. The dingy they had been set out adrift in had gotten dismantled for all its sea-worn pieces to create a half-hearted attempt at shelter. She had considered burning parts of it, but that would have required some means of setting it alight which was not likely to occur with how high the tide rose on the glorified sandbar.

Even Jack's normally infallible attitude had taken a dark turn. Where the slow crawl of the midday sun had leached Elizabeth's remaining resolve for anger away, it seemed to not have the same effect on the other pirate.

"You're certain that you don't have some kind of talisman or trinket that would summon dear William here?" Jack asked for the umpteenth time.

Elizabeth didn't even bother to roll her eyes. She was so hot and exhausted that the effort was beyond her. "It never really came up," she retorted. "I hadn't planned on getting thrown overboard by a mutinous crew over the sake of some tiresome rations."

"And the missing haul from Port Royal," Jack added oh-so-helpfully. His expression remained dark. They had lost more than just swag from hitting the East India stronghold there.

Losing the map to the fountain had been a setback - too large of one, according to Elizabeth's crew. They had intended to retrieve it on Port Royal but the defenses there had been strengthened over the past years. They had left empty handed once more. Elizabeth closed her eyes and sank further into the wooden lean-to. The top of her head poked out the opposite side. She could feel the sun beating down on it ferociously. Worst of all, she didn't _disagree_ with her crew's frustrations; the map had been their best lead for both Jack's hopes and Elizabeth's.

"Regardless I had not factored into my decisions a way to contact my cursed _husband-"_ she made the correction sharply "-in the event of such a thing. Because it was not supposed to happen."

She heard Jack's indignant noise and counted her few, scattered lucky stars that he didn't continue with his commentary. The conversation lapsed again into bitter silence. She reached her fingers out for the water canteen and frowned when her fingertips found only open air. It had been sitting between them for the past hour.

Anger rose again, bitter and dry in her parched throat. She pushed herself to her elbows and opened her mouth to snap once more at the man. The irritation dropped away as she spotted the canteen a few inches closer to her. It was simply not in the same spot she had thought it was.

When she hefted it, the dread that she had been ignoring deep in her stomach swelled once more. The metal canteen was dangerously low. Elizabeth swirled the contents around before grimacing and putting it back down, untouched.

"You should take it," Jack muttered. He was pressed against the opposite side of the lean-to. At some point he had moved further away from her. Elizabeth's frown deepened and she remained perched on her elbows.

"Why?" she questioned.

Jack gestured vaguely to the sparkling, beautiful ocean around them. "I've got all the water I need here, love." Elizabeth allowed herself to roll her eyes this time.

She picked up the canteen and chucked it at his chest. "I didn't think that you were that stupid, Jack," she scoffed. "There's not much left. We keep splitting it, end of discussion."

He let the canteen smack into him and fall back to the sand with a soft _plop_. "There isn't much left. That means one of us is taking time away from the other with each bit we keep sharing," he said.

Sometime after first getting thrown off of Elizabeth's ship they had followed a similar conversation thread. Elizabeth had made the argument originally, though it had been out of anger. She had quickly taken it back when the sun went down and her thoughts cleared. Now here Jack was agreeing and apparently willingly taking the sacrifice.

Elizabeth dropped back to the unnervingly hot sand and stared at what had been the prow of the dingy above her head. "I'm not going to let you die, Jack," she insisted. Turning to the usual jabs and prods that would elicit the reaction she hoped for, Elizabeth smirked. "That seems a sorry end to the renowned Captain Jack Sparrow. Dying of thirst on an unmarked sandbar for the sake of a few hours more living for the person who once sent him to the Locker."

"An end's an end," Jack said, his mood refusing to rise from Elizabeth's goading. "Doesn't matter if it's sad or in a blaze of cannon fire. We all go sometime or another."

"You know that's not necessarily true," Elizabeth offered quietly. It was starting to hurt, talking this much. But the alternative was more grim.

Jack Sparrow didn't give up, especially not for her sake. Neither of them had given up after Will took the captainship on the Dutchman. The whole reason both of them had been on Elizabeth's ship risking mutiny and the remaining long reaching arm of the law was to find something to undo Calypso's curse that now held Will. Or if the sea's will could not be swayed, something to make the ten year stretches less painful. That had been the goal for finding the fountain after all.

"If I die then won't that mean the Dutchman has to come and ferry me onto me merry little afterlife, barring any last minute employment opportunities?" Jack said firmly. "Seems as good a reason as any to speed this along then. Will can play the heroic rescuer once more and-"

"No," she snapped. Elizabeth moved to pick up the canteen and plop herself next to Jack. She shoved the metal container into his hands roughly. Her expression resolute, she looked back and forth between it and Jack.

He sighed and unscrewed the cap. "You're giving up your one last chance at making it off this strip of land alive, love."

Elizabeth watched intently as the canteen tipped up and back, verifying that indeed Jack had taken a draught and wasn't pulling another slight of hand. Or mouth. "It's a bad plan, Jack," she said as she took the canteen and her own miniscule sip. "I expect better of you by now."

He laughed and waved her back to her own side of the lean-to. It was too hot to remain bunched together, though mercifully it did look as though the sun was beginning its slide down to the horizon. "This is why it would never have worked out between us. Too many expectations. How does William put up with it all?" Jack said with a grimace.

A wry smile dancing on her lips, Elizabeth gestured to the sea as Jack had earlier. "In case you haven't noticed, he doesn't," she said before bursting into giggles.

They didn't have much, but at least they would live or die together.


End file.
